Railway car with elastic side walls

ABSTRACT

A railway car with elastic side walls for carrying crops and discards coming from cutting of flat bloom ends by a slabbing mills, which crops and discards are collected by a movable box container which collects and carries said materials and then discharges them onto a special railway car.

United States Patent Moretti et a1.

RAILWAY CAR WITH ELASTIC SIDE WALLS Inventors: Alberto Moretti; SettimioFeroli,

both of Taranto, Italy Assignee: Italsider S.p.A., Genoa, Italy Filed:July 17, 1970 Appl. No.: 55,801

Foreign Application Priority Data Aug. 7, 1969 Italy ..7238 A/69 U.S.Cl. 105/409, l05 /378, 105/396,

105/413 Int. Cl. ..B6ld 17/08 Field of Search ..105/355, 409, 364, 379,406, 105/238, 378, 413

Jan. 23, 1973 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,240,1683/1966 Charles et a1. 105/406 R 1,834,264 12/1931 Wine 4 ..105/406 R301,855 7/1884 Bueno,.lrr ..105/378 1,579,673 4/1926 Tench et a]...105/406 R 2,948,026 8/1960 Shils ..105/409 3,376,832 4/1968 Flowers..105/406 R Primary Examiner-Drayton E. Hoffman AssistantExaminer-Richard A. Bertsch Attorney-Nolte and Nolte [57] ABSTRACT Arailway car with elastic side walls for carrying crops and discardscoming from cutting of flat bloom ends by a slabbing mills, which cropsand discards are collected by a movable box container which collects andcarries said materials and then discharges them onto a special railwaycar.

5 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJAH 23 I975 SHEET 5 OF 6 INVENTORSJf/T/n/offfiou 155270 OPETT/ ATTORNEYS I RAILWAY CAR WITH ELASTIC SIDEWALLS BACKGROUND OF INVENTION The present invention consists in arailway car with elastic side walls for carrying crops and discardscoming from a slabbing mill.

As said crops, the weight of which may reach up to one ton, pass fromsaid containers onto railway cars by falling freely from a height of 3-5meters, the need arose of substituting for the conventional railway carswith stiff side walls special cars the side walls of which, carefullydesigned as for their shape and size, could bend so as to transform thekinetic energy of the falling body into an elastic deformation energy ofthe striken side wall element and adjacent ones, removing thus from saidaction the strike effect and consequently avoiding any permanentdeformation.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide arailway car with elastic side walls for carrying crops and discardscoming from a slabbing mill comprising a stiff frame on which arefastened shaped sheet strips, according to their longitudinal direction,substantially C- shaped, which are arranged adjacent to each othertransversally to the car longitudinal direction and are connected toeach other by at least a pair of longitudinal sheet strips extendingpreferably between the car ends.

Said sheet strips, shaped according to their longitudinal direction, areC-shaped and comprise exactly a horizontal rectilinear central sectionwith at the ends thereof two rectilinear upward inclined sections, twocurved sections and finally two further rectilinear sectionssubstantially vertical though slightly inclined towards the car inside.

The rectilinear central section of said shaped strips is connected tothe car frame, correspondingly to the ends of said rectilinear centralsection preferably by bolts; the ends of said shaped strips beingconnected .to each other, each by a sheet strip arranged longitudinallyto the car axis, which is securely connected to the car head walls; theconnection between the longitudinal strips and the shaped strips beingobtained preferably by bolts.

Between each shaped strip and the adjacent one there is left a free gapwhich is large as the strip width and preferably as wide as a fractionofsaid width.

The car frame comprises a substantially stiff framework covered on itstop by a continuous sheet; on the two long sides of the car beingarranged two .low side walls suitable to contain, together with the .carhead walls, a layer of filling materials, preferably represented byslags.

The car head walls are made of channel-shaped sections arrangedhorizontally and overlapped to each other with their concavity directedtowards'thecar outside; suitable stiffening uprights being arranged onthe outer faces of said head walls.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings show,by wayof example only, an embodiment according to the abovedescribed objects.

FIG. I is a partial plan view of a railway car accordingto theinvention;

FIG. 2.is a partial side view of said car;

FIG. 3 is a view taken from the left of FIG. 2, that is a view of-theforward end of said car;

FIG. 4 is a semi-sectional view taken along plane IV-IV of FIG. I;

FIG. 5 is a semi-sectional view, similar to FIG. 4, taken along planeV-V of FIG. I, close to the car head wall, so that the latter may beseen from inside;

FIG. 6 is a simplified sectional view taken along plane VI-VI of FIG. 1in a reduced scale;

FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view taken along plane VII-VII of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a plan view, in a reduced scale, of the car end with theelastic side walls removed;

FIG. 9 is a partial sectional view in an enlarged scale taken alongplane IX-IX of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along plane X-X of FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the above listed figures,which relate to a single particular solution of a railway car improvedaccording to the invention, numeral 1 denotes a set of sheet stripslongitudinally C-shaped and comprising a flat central section 101, anupward inclined side section 102, a connection joint 103 and finally arectilinear section slightly inclined towards the car inside and actingas a side wall portion. Said elements are to be arranged adjacent toeach other, transversally to the car longitudinal axis, and between eachpair of adjacent elements a gap 104 is left free; each of said shapedstrips is fastened to the car bearing structure, in this case to theupper wings of beam 106 by means of four bolts 19 shown onlydiagrammatically in the figure. The shaped strips 1 are connected toeach other by means of a pair of sheet strips 2.which joinlongitudinally the upper end of section 104 of each shaped strip 1; saidstrip 2 is connected to the shaped strips 1 by means preferably of bolts20 shown only diagrammatically in the figure; the use of bolts allows arelatively simple and quick replacement of the shaped strips 1 whichought to be replaced being broken, warped and the like.

The two ,ends of ,strips 2 are securely fastened, still by means ofbolts 33, to the car head walls formed by channel shaped sections 3overlapped to each other and with their wings directed towards the caroutside, through suitable coupling plates 32; the twohead walls areconnected to two short and stiff side members formed in the same way asthe head walls, obtained by .meansof lugs 4 of channel-shaped sectionsoverlapped in the same way as the channel-shaped sections 3. The

frame 18 of the caris covered at itstop by a continuous sheet .17intended .for collecting chips of materials of any .kind, andparticularly,.together with two sheets 8 acting asside walls, itmaycontain a filling 107 where sheets are .partly immersed into, saidfilling being further suitable to absorb the shocks caused by theworkpieces falling onto the bottom concerned.

Numerals 5,6.and 7 denote metal sections acting as stiffening uprightsfor thetwo head walls of the car; in

order to reinforce the connection ,between said uprights and thechannel-shaped sections forming the head walls, reinforcing plates 11,stiffened by elements 12, are arranged in the groove of sections 3, andon said plates said uprights are welded.

Numerals 13, 14 and 15 denote the stud of a ladder, the coupling and thesteps thereof respectively.

The arrangement works as follows: the crops and discards coming fromcutting of flat bloom ends fall onto the described car hitting thebottom and side walls thereof, said walls under the shock action arecapable of deforming elastically not only locally, as each of shapedstrips 1 is connected to the shaped strips adjacent thereto throughstrips 2 which take part in said deformation.

The slag filling the car bottom is suitable to absorb the direct shockswhich otherwise would be suffered by the central portion of the carbottom which is not in position to deform elastically.

Obviously, the form of the shaping of strips 1 may be modified, as wellas the number of strips 2 joining said strips 1.

What is claimed is:

1. A railway car having a rigid frame, two longitudinally extendingframe elements one at each side of the car, a plurality of c-shapedpanels disposed transversely of the car and secured at their ends tosaid elements, each panel being unsupported by an adjacent panel wherebyunder impact from the interior of said car said panels will flex, saidcar also comprising a base upon which is disposed shock absorbingmaterials within which the lowermost portions of the panels aredisposed.

2. A railway car having a rigid frame, two longitudinally extendingframe elements one at each side of the car, a plurality of c-shapedpanels disposed transversely of the car and secured at their ends tosaid elements, each panel being unsupported by an adjacent panel wherebyunder impact from the interior of. said car said panels will flex, saidcar having endwalls constituted by channel section bars mounted one atopanother and with their flanges disposed to the exterior of the car.

3. A railway car comprising a wheeled frame opposed end walls, a pair oflongitudinally extending flat frame elements connected to the uppercorners of the end walls, a plurality of c-shaped panels extendingtransversely of the car, having their ends secured to said frameelements, being secured at their midpoints to a central longitudinalframe element and being unsupported at their edges and each panel beingspaced from an adjacent panel, a base below the panels and supporting ashock absorbing material thereon within which material the lowermostportions of said panels are disposed.

4. A railway car as claimed in claim 3 wherein each of said panelscomprises a generally flat mid portion, upwardly inclined generally flatportions to each side of said mid portion and generally flat sideportions which incline inwardly towards each other, said side andinwardly inclined portions being joined by a curved portion.

5. A railway car having a rigid frame, two longitudinally extendingframe elements one at each side of the car, a plurality of c-shapedpanels disposed transversely of the car and secured at their ends tosaid elements, each panel being unsijpported by an adjacent panelwhereby under impact rom the interior of said car said panels will flex,said panels comprising a generally flat mid portion, upwardly inclinedgenerally flat portions to each side of said mid portion and generallyflat side portions which incline inwardly towards each other, saidupwardly inclined side portions being joined by a curbed portion, andwherein said mid portion is secured to a central longitudinallyextending frame element.

1. A railway car having a rigid frame, two longitudinally extendingframe elements one at each side of the car, a plurality of c-shapedpanels disposed transversely of the car and secured at their ends tosaid elements, each panel being unsupported by an adjacent panel wherebyunder impact from the interior of said car said panels will flex, saidcar also comprising a base upon which is disposed shock absorbingmaterials within which the lowermost portions of the panels aredisposed.
 2. A railway car having a rigid frame, two longitudinallyextending frame elements one at each side of the car, a plurality ofc-shaped panels disposed transversely of the car and secured at theirends to said elements, each panel being unsupported by an adjacent panelwhereby under impact from the interior of said car said panels willflex, said car having end walls constituted by channel section barsmounted one atop another and with their flanges disposed to the exteriorof the car.
 3. A railway car comprising a wheeled frame opposed endwalls, a pair of longitudinally extending flat frame elements connectedto the upper corners of the end walls, a plurality of c-shaped panelsextending transversely of the car, having their ends secured to saidframe elements, being secured at their midpoints to a centrallongitudinal frame element and being unsupported at their edges and eachpanel being spaced from an adjacent panel, a base below the panels andsupporting a shock absorbing material thereon within which material thelowermost portions of said panels are disposed.
 4. A railway car asclaimed in claim 3 wherein each of said panels comprises a generallyflat mid portion, upwardly inclined generally flat portions to each sideof said mid portion and generally flat side portions which inclineinwardly towards each other, said side and inwardly inclined portionsbeing joined by a curved portion.
 5. A railway car having a rigid frame,two longitudinally extending frame elements one at each side of the car,a plurality of c-shaped panels disposed transversely of the car andsecured at their ends to said elements, each panel being unsupported byan adjacent panel whereby under impact from the interior of said carsaid panels will flex, said panels comprising a generally flat midportion, upwardly inclined generally flat portions to each side of saidmid portion and generally flat side portions which incline inwardlytowards each other, said upwardly inclined side portions being joined bya curbed portion, and wherein said mid portion is secured to a centrallongitudinally extending frame element.